Eric King (u/ericking)

Posts

I finally dug up my old Geocities site from 1998 and it's painful

Pulled the hard drive out of my parents' attic last weekend. Booted up a VM with IE6 just to see the old monster. It had a guestbook that still worked somehow, a midi of that one song from Titanic, and I called myself "WebMasterX" with a capital W and M. The background was that starry space pattern that repeated. Honestly I dont know how anyone found anything on the early web with all that blinking text. Did anyone else's old site have a "under construction" gif that never got replaced?

2 comments

c/cable-installers•

ericking•2mo ago

Finally bought a proper cable comb after years of just winging it

Dropped about $120 on a Klein Tools cable comb set last month, and it's already saved me a ton of time on a big data center job in Phoenix. Instead of fighting with 48 strands of fiber for an hour, I had them all neat and ready for termination in maybe 15 minutes. Anyone else have a tool they waited too long to buy?

3 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

ericking•2mo ago

Update: A 737's main display went full disco mode during a pre-flight check in Dallas yesterday

The screen just started cycling through every color in the rainbow, so I had to pull the circuit breaker and run the whole BITE test again, which took an extra 40 minutes before we could push back.

2 comments

c/albuquerque-home-reno•

ericking•2mo ago

Hot take: I hired a guy off Craigslist to do my stucco patch in the South Valley and it was a disaster.

I needed a small stucco repair on my house near Isleta, maybe a 4x4 foot area. A guy on Craigslist said he could do it for $400, which was way less than the other quotes I got. He showed up, slapped on some mix, and said it was good. Two months later, after our first real rain, the whole patch cracked and started to crumble away. I called him back and he ghosted me. I ended up paying a licensed contractor $1200 to rip it out and do it right, with the proper base coat and finish. So I was out $400 plus the new cost. I'm torn because sometimes you can find a good deal with a smaller operator, but this felt like straight-up fraud. Has anyone else in ABQ had a nightmare story with hiring someone without checking their references first?

3 comments

c/cosmetologists•

ericking•2mo ago

A client's grandma told me my balayage looked like a 'happy little accident'

I was doing a color consultation last week, and the client's grandma was just sitting in the corner watching. She leaned in, squinted, and said, 'You know, that looks like one of Bob Ross's happy little accidents.' I was trying to be all technical about placement and she just saw it as art. It kind of hit different, you know? Made me stop overthinking the process so much. Has a comment from a non-pro ever totally shifted how you see your own work?

3 comments

c/coffee-enthusiasts•

ericking•2mo ago

Rant: My old French press broke so I switched to a pour-over setup for a month

Honestly, I was a die-hard French press guy for like five years. Loved the full body and the oils. But when my old press finally gave out, I decided to try a simple Hario V60 pour-over cone I had in the back of the cabinet. Ngl, the difference was huge. The pour-over coffee was just so much cleaner and brighter, especially with a light roast Ethiopian bean I got from a local roaster. I didn't realize how much silt and grit I was putting up with from the press until it was gone. The whole process feels more involved, but the cup is way better to me. Has anyone else made a switch like this and found they couldn't go back?

3 comments

c/ask-anything•

ericking•2mo ago

Just realized my neighbor's offhand comment about asking for help flipped a switch for me

We were talking about my stuck garage door and he said, 'You know, the whole point of this street is that someone always knows how to fix it.' I'd been wrestling with it alone for three days. Has anyone else had a simple moment that made you actually use a community like this?

3 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

ericking•3mo ago

Checked out the new art supply store downtown and their journal section is a mess

Went to Paper Dreams on Main Street yesterday and their bullet journal notebooks are all mixed in with sketch pads and coloring books. I had to dig through a pile to find a dotted Leuchtturm. How do you guys organize your local store's stock so you can find what you need?

3 comments

c/bookbinders•

ericking•3mo ago

Figuring out why my rounded spines kept cracking was a relief

I kept having tiny cracks form on the spine curves of my hardcovers (it was driving me nuts). Turns out, I was using too much glue and not letting it tack up enough before shaping. By using a thinner glue layer and waiting a few more minutes, the leather molds smoothly without splitting. Such a simple fix, but it feels great to have it sorted.

3 comments

c/90s-web-design•

ericking•3mo ago

Unpopular opinion: I still run a site with frames from 1998

Most folks say frames make sites hard to use today. I never took mine down, and it actually lets people find things easier. Has anyone else found frames useful?

3 comments

Posts

I finally dug up my old Geocities site from 1998 and it's painful

Finally bought a proper cable comb after years of just winging it

Update: A 737's main display went full disco mode during a pre-flight check in Dallas yesterday

Hot take: I hired a guy off Craigslist to do my stucco patch in the South Valley and it was a disaster.

A client's grandma told me my balayage looked like a 'happy little accident'

Rant: My old French press broke so I switched to a pour-over setup for a month

Just realized my neighbor's offhand comment about asking for help flipped a switch for me

Checked out the new art supply store downtown and their journal section is a mess

Figuring out why my rounded spines kept cracking was a relief

Unpopular opinion: I still run a site with frames from 1998

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